Casper Ruud, long celebrated for his composure and often called one of the kindest souls on the tennis court, has proudly worn the badge of ‘Rafa’s Kid.’ Fans remember rare moments, like last year’s Madrid Open semi-final, when his usually calm on-court demeanor snapped as he confronted the umpire for not doing “enough” while a fan shouted before his second serve. However, his recent Italian Open loss to Jannik Sinner has drawn sharp critique from Brad Gilbert, questioning both his tactics and behavior.

While analyzing Casper Ruud’s performance on the “Big T Podcast,” the former coach of Coco Gauff, Brad Gilbert, focused on what he described as the Norwegian’s uncharacteristic behavior during his recent match. He noted how Ruud, usually composed, appeared to vent his frustration toward his father and coach, Christian Ruud, in a way fans rarely witness.

“Couple things for Ruud that I thought were uncharacteristic. One, he’s normally very relaxed on the court, and he started actually barking at the camp a little bit, and his dad a little bit. You’re not used to seeing that,” Gilbert said, emphasizing how unusual it was to see Ruud break his calm demeanor.

Gilbert also turned his attention to Ruud’s tactical decisions during the match, highlighting a strategy that seemed to contradict his usual strengths.

“And I felt like he got off to a good start being patient. But the reason why I say uncharacteristically is, his game is about serve and finding that first ball forehand. And I thought he settled to go backhand to backhand with Sinner. And obviously Sinner’s backhand is not as good as his forehand, but I felt like he should have early on tried to find the forehand, which he did all tournament,” Gilbert explained.

The coach suggested that by not fully leveraging his forehand, Ruud allowed the match to slip into a more predictable pattern, which Sinner could exploit.

“I thought he should have tried to go big on the forehand. Be a little more unpredictable, patient, and then still use your strength. So I felt like maybe he got this little lead,” Gilbert added, underscoring the missed opportunity.

He reflected on how Ruud’s strong start might have given him a false sense of confidence, impacting his decision-making.

“Remember last year there, he got crushed. But I feel like maybe the good start got him to think, ‘Oh, I could win like this.’ And Sinner said, ‘No, not so fast,’” Gilbert said, pointing to the harsh reality of facing a player like Sinner.

(More to come…)